1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of shotshell loads and particularly to an improved shot configuration having a plurality of concave dimples arranged on the outer surfaces of the shot.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The shotshell load or charge for any conventional gauge of shotgun, ranging from 410 ga. up to 10 ga., characteristically includes a casing having a brass portion and a plastic or paper portion, a primer seated in the closed end of the brass portion, a powder charge laid inside the brass portion, a wad structure seating the powder charge in the casing and a number of pellets or shot, resting on top of the wad structure and filling the inner column in the plastic or paper housing portion of the casing. The open distal end of such housing portion is then crimped, or closed, against the shot thereby preventing the shot from spilling out of the housing before the powder charge is exploded.
In this conventional shotshell arrangement, spherical pellets are the standard and accepted type of shot employed. Through the years, lead has been universally employed to fabricate such spherical shot because of its very high density and the ease with which the spheres can be very inexpensively fabricated. In recent years, however, various ecological and environmental considerations, such as the problem of lead-poisoning in waterfowl, have directed research and development into the possibility of replacing lead as the preferred material, with steel, or iron, as the prime candidate. Although many sportsmen, and particularly hunters, have strongly protested any such replacement, mainly because of the much lighter density of such other materials and the corresponding decrease in effective killing distance which this suggests, the strength of the various ecological and environmental bodies is such that it is anticipated that lead shot may soon be a thing of the past. Other arguments voiced against the possible changeover to steel shot involve the possibility of barrel damage resulting from the harder steel pellets and the crippling losses and accuracy problems occasioned by the more rapidly decelerating steel pellets.
Variations in the generally spherical configuration of shotshell pellets have been proposed over the years, and particularly in recent times possibly in light of the proposed change to the much lighter steel, or iron, material. As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,659, shotshells utilizing a mixture of both spherical and flat discs were apparently disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,583,559, with such configurations not providing any great improvement in packing density or aerodynamic characteristics over the conventional spherical configuration. A cubical pellet configuration was apparently first disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 487,028 with little success, and pellets in the form of cylinders were disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,343,818. With the major stress being to maximize force to shot communication, U.S. Pat. No. 3,264,996 issued to Rimar discloses a stacking means for holding the buckshot or spheroidal projectiles within a shotgun shell in a plurality of separate upright columns so as to allow the full setback force of the discharge to be communicated to each individual projectile in a straight line, and to conduct the projectiles in the columnar arrangement through the barrel of the shotgun and protect them from being deformed through friction during their passage therethrough.
Stressing the importance of packing density, U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,659 issued to Sistino provides generally spherical shot pellets which have six equally spaced, substantially flat bases which are separated from each other by spherical portions. As expressly stated therein, the six-sided, flattened spherical shot "has the desirable property of flying with substantially the same flight characteristic and penetration as spherical shot" while also providing a greater packing density than is conventionally obtainable. Sistino also discloses, at col. 1, lines 36-39, three other prior art references which teach the use of pellets formed in the shape of cylinders, cubes and discs to increase packing density or alter the shop pattern.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,381, issued to McCoy, pellets are disclosed having a tapered cavity in one end and a tapered outer portion at the other end, whereby the tapered portion of one pellet is insertable in the cavity of the adjacent pellet. In this manner, McCoy also achieves a greater packing density and strives for good aerodynamic characteristics by providing a plurality of stacks of nesting pellets seated in the shotgun shells.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,390, issued to Medin, another variation from the conventional spherical configuration is disclosed therein for fragmentary elements used in various explosive weapons. Specifically, each fragmentary element comprises a member having the general shape of a sphere with six flat surfaces located along the greatest diameter of the sphere at its equitorial zone thereby giving a regular hexagonal shape when sectioned with a plane through the greatest diameter and the center of the sphere.
As is evidenced by the above prior art references, much work has been done with regard to stacking the various pellet configurations and achieving the greatest packing densities. However, little research or regard has been given to developing new pellet configurations which achieve an improvement in the aerodynamics of the pellets by minimizing wind resistance and thus maintaining more of their initial muzzle velocity throughout their flight. As expressly shown in Sistino, research has been merely delegated to maintaining substantially the same flight characteristics and penetration as with conventional spherical shot.